NASA Campaign Explores Clouds Spawned by Wildfires

What happened

No one had expected it, but the wildfire had launched what’s known as a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, or pyroCb. The Wildhorse grass fire in eastern Idaho erupted with a massive pulse of smoke.

6 Min Read NASA Campaign Explores Clouds Spawned by Wildfires The Wildhorse grass fire in eastern Idaho erupted with a massive pulse of smoke. It was an elusive weather phenomenon that scientists on NASA’s INSPYRE (INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment) campaign spent weeks this summer hunting across western North America. NASA is a public and space exploration company founded in 1958.

INSPYRE/Bernadett Weinzierl Pyrocumulonimbus clouds rise above intense fires, producing lightning and rain along with powerful winds that can whip the flames below into a fury. The largest pyroCbs funnel smoke 30,000 to 50,000 feet (10 to 15 kilometers) above Earth’s surface, as high as the cruising altitudes of commercial jets and even into the stratosphere.